ABOUT PEOPLE’S CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
People’s Climate Solutions is West Virginia’s first online resource center to document and share a wide range of climate activities and solutions underway throughout the state. We offer an online, searchable database and networking site that serves all West Virginians seeking to address climate change. People’s Climate Solutions is a shared space to learn from and be inspired by each other.
There is much more happening to solve the climate crisis in West Virginia than people might imagine. We feature stories from individuals, churches and libraries going solar to communities setting up Green Team advisory boards to schools, businesses, farms, civic and faith-based organizations and communities implementing all types of climate solutions. Solutions that are big and small, simple and complex.
No other source reports or provides comprehensive information about climate solutions in West Virginia. The research and watchdog group Media Matters has found that climate reporting accounted for less than one percent of the major corporate networks total broadcast content in 2024, a fraction it calls “woefully inadequate in the face of a worsening climate crisis.” The Columbia Journalism review states that “at a time when civilization is accelerating toward disaster, climate silence continues to reign across the bulk of the US news media.”
We believe highlighting and sharing West Virginians’ climate solutions stories can help people to imagine possibilities for change.
WHAT WE DO
Share West Virginians’ Climate Solutions Stories. We identify climate solutions stories through online and other research, by engaging with individuals and organizations across the state, and by collecting stories from website users who can upload their stories here.
Produce and Share Climate Solutions Podcasts. We interview West Virginians about what they’re doing to address the climate crisis and discuss why and how they’re doing it. The podcasts offer detailed guidance and lessons learned that will be of interest to anyone who wants to implement similar solutions.
Case Studies: “What We’re Learning about Climate Solutions”. We develop papers to share information, lessons learned and recommendations we’re gathering from people, organizations, and community and other leaders.
Updates and News Releases. We provide updates and information about climate solutions and other information at this link that can be re-published or reprinted in newsletters, newspapers or broadcast on radio, TV, or streaming outlets.
WHO WE ARE
We are educators, climate activists and life-long friends. We believe in the power of small-scale, grassroots-oriented projects and technologies that empower local people and provide possibilities for developing low-carbon lifestyles, mobilizing community, empowering activism and inspiring change.
Sandra Fallon
I bring a background as instructional designer, media consultant, documentary video maker and community activist engaged in public outreach and advocacy for environmental and climate solutions. I’ve worked in West Virginia and across the U.S. providing water and sustainability education and information clearinghouse services to small and rural communities with West Virginia University’s National Environmental Services Center. I’ve developed and taught climate communications to West Virginia K-12 teachers and spearheaded a statewide climate Public Service Announcement contest for WV students. As current WV Environmental Council President, a co-founder of WV Climate Action, and former co-chair of Citizens Climate Lobby WV, my work combines education, communications, activism and public engagement.
Frances (Frankie) Julia Riemer
As an educational anthropologist, I bring expertise and experience in adult learning, ethnographic evaluation, data collection, and analysis to the work. My ethnographic research investigates intersectional understandings of climate action, and I have conducted large- and small-scale needs assessments and evaluations in and outside the US. I am a Professor in Educational Foundations at Northern Arizona University and former Director of and Associate Faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies, a co-founder and Board member of Northern Arizona Climate Change Alliance, and I speak locally and internationally on Gender and Climate Change and Climate Justice.
People’s Climate Solutions is an independent, not-for-profit endeavor sponsored by WV Citizen Action Education Fund and The Downstream Project and funded in part by the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation. Our goal is to secure non-profit status as a 501(c)3 organization.
